Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
Bill McGurn ·
Nov 16, 2010 at 10:59am
In a few minutes, the President of the United States will bestow on Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta the Medal of Honor. Fox, I believe, is carrying it live. I wrote about it today in the Wall Street Journal.
Of the eight men who have been awarded the MOH from this war, Sgt. Giunta is the first to survive the action that earned it for him. Check out his story on the official army page.
Remember, the Medals are for *us*, not for people like Sgt. Giunta. He doesn't need any medal to remind him of the price of freedom. I believe the ceremony is beginning soon, but the army website provides all the information. They will publish the citation and the president's speech after they are read aloud in a few minutes.
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Re: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
Bill, a very moving reminder. Thank you.
Re: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
The ceremony is wrapping up. I was pleased to see the President ask the family of Sgt. Joshua Brennan stand and be acknowledged; he was the guy Spc. Giunta was trying to save.
Another Sgt. That Giunta saved went on to get the Silver Star for *his* actions in that same battle. These things can get overshadowed.
Nov '10
Re: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
Thanks so much for this reminder; I'd have missed the ceremony otherwise. Instead, I was able to watch it with my son. What an incredible story--and yet I'll bet that Spc. Giunta didn't even hesitate in his actions.
Aug '10
Re: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
Thank you Sgt. Guinta, glad you made it home.
Edited on Nov 16, 2010 at 3:37pmJul '10
Re: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
I only heard some snippets of the President's speech on the radio news. I was irritated by the way he referred to SSG Giunta as "Sal", and said, "I'm going to go off script - I really like this guy".
I hope the whole speech wasn't like that. SSG Giunta is the first living recipient of the CMH since Vietnam, not some kid who won a spelling bee. Can we have some sobriety, please? Some of SSG Giunta's buddies didn't make it home.
Aug '10
Re: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
I don't understand why there aren't quite a few more being awarded. There've been more than a few nearly miraculous individual acts of heroism in recent years. Is it to make up for the excesses of Vietnam, when they handed out too many? Doesn't make sense.
Edited on Nov 16, 2010 at 1:10pmOct '10
Re: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
River: I don't understand why there aren't quite a few more being awarded. There've been more than a few nearly miraculous individual acts of heroism in recent years. Is it to make up for the excesses of Vietnam, when they handed out too many? Doesn't make sense. · Nov 16 at 1:08pm
Edited on Nov 16 at 01:10 pm
I have heard this complaint quite a bit and frankly it ignores the differences of Iraq and Afghanistan in comparison to previous wars. I have no intention of lessening the heroism of our troops and individuals like SSG Giunta certainly deserve the Medal of Honor, but lets be honest, most firefights in our current wars are not equivalent to the blood baths that were our previous conflicts, even Vietnam. I served in Afghanistan as a combat engineer doing route clearance. The sorts of situations requiring acts of great individual heroism as demonstrated by SSG Giunta are rare. I for one do not find it surprising that so few Medal of Honors have been awarded. I have no doubt that there are others deserving it, but again, they are a rarity, reflecting the nature of modern warfare.
Edited on Nov 16, 2010 at 1:41pmRe: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
You can read more at the 60 Minutes website. It is an incredible story.